Winter nests and dog walking

Posted at 1:40 PM, Tuesday, February 5, 2008

This winter has been colder and stormier than average, so the weathermen say. Andie and I go on at least four walks per day and to prepare for each walk, I put on long underwear, jeans, wool socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a short-sleeved shirts, a fleece pullover, my REI rain jacket, light gloves, and a hat (wool or ballcap). I have nothing against winter, but I look forward to the day I can leave the apartment in shirt, shorts, and sandals.

Most of our walks are through the newly constructed, upscale Orenco Station neighborhoods northwest of our apartment. The house are larger and more expensive than any we can ever afford and all of the trees are small and deciduous. Now that their leaves are off, I enjoy their odd symmetry and I search for old bird nests tucked into their limbs.


I recognize some nests from the summer when I observed them in action and wrote them up in my nest journal. The American Robin that built this nest included balloon ribbons in the material. At least one nestling successfully fledged around July 1st.




When I view most nests, however,  I wonder how I missed them when they were active.

 
  The trees and nests have inspired a new project, an attempt to recreate these great artworks assembled by natural (bird nests) and artificial (decorative trees) selection. During our walks, I photograph the nests and trees. When I return home, I paint a sky-colored background into my watercolor journal. Gray skies are my favorite to paint.

 I then sketch the tree and nest over the background and later paint over the sketch with dark watercolors. It is a technically simple process and provides the relaxation I enjoy from painting branches.



When spring arrives, I will be looking for more active nests to observe (without intruding on the nest behavior, of course) and record in my nest journal.